To the Whiners - Don't Watch the Oscars

Originally posted on March 5, 2006

Every year after the Oscars telecast, there's a bunch of "viewers" whining about the so-called politics. For your sake, you aren't being forced to watch the Oscars. You're only watching it to make some complaints to get attention and feel better about yourselves.

The Academy Awards members watch the movies and vote, not you. You get to watch the awards being awarded to the nominees, but you don't get to vote. So why whine? That's what People's Choice Awards are for.

I find it amusing when I see somebody making a fuss about a certain win being "politicized" when they are in fact politicizing it themselves. If you think they're all out to get the President; you're being paranoid. Last time I checked, the President has a 34 percent of the nation's approval on his performance and it's still sinking. As I recall, some people tried to say that Bill Clinton suffered the same problem, which is completely untrue.

Bill Clinton was at his lowest during his first year in office and suddenly, it spiked and never came down near to his lowest point since then. His lowest was at 36 percent in May of 1993 and it lasted barely 2 months then it went above 40 percent and never went any lower ever again. In fact, he has the highest approval rating for any outgoing president in history. President Bush's approval rating has suffered for a good while. Will President Bush be able to get a good rating when he finishes his second term? Click here to read a blog entry I made back in November on the presidential job performance ratings.

I doubt it. They're on the losing side. No need to be a sore loser about it. There may be some jokes that may not reflect the President too well, especially when he has such a low approval rating. Maybe the late night talk show hosts wouldn't be making fun of the President if his approval rating were high. I wish the best luck to Jon Stewart on his hosting gig tonight at the Oscars. He probably won't be a screamer like last year's host, Chris Rock.

By the way, I predict 'Crash' will achieve an upset victory over 'Brokeback Mountain'. Though I do predict the Best Director award going to Ang Lee for 'Brokeback Mountain', after all he does deserve it. Most of the times, both Best Director and Best Picture are awarded to the same movie. Though back in 2003, the Best Director went to the U.S. fugitive, Roman Polanski for The Pianist and the Best Picture award went to the musical, 'Chicago'. In 2001, Steven Soderbergh snagged the Best Director award for 'Traffic' and 'Gladiator' was declared the Best Picture. 'Shakespeare in Love' had an upset victory over 'Saving Private Ryan' in 1998, Spielberg was awarded the Best Director but they felt that 'Shakespeare in Love' was a better film. Nobody has talked about the movie in ages, I wouldn't be surprised if people barely remember it while they recall what a great movie 'Saving Private Ryan' was.

It doesn’t happen very often, it has only happened 20 times out of 77. Click here to view the database of "Picture and directing winners not from same film".

Hey, if I end up being wrong about 'Crash', at least it's just a prediction. I highly recommend the movie, it's a well-done film made on a budget of 6.5 million dollars. The only big budgeted film is Steven Spielberg's 'Munich' at 70 million dollars. Both 'Capote' and 'Good Night, and Good Luck' had $7 million each. 'Brokeback Mountain' was produced at a low price of $14 million. Just because the average moviegoer may had not seen them doesn't mean they are flops. All of them has made back or exceeded the budget enough to make a profit.

No need to politicize it. Repugnance isn't necessary. It's like listening to a spoiled 3 years old on a sugar high and throwing a temper tantrum. It's a simple task, just don't watch it if you don't support them. Otherwise, just shut up and enjoy the show.

To the Oscar nominees, good luck on winning the awards.